"The residents of the Mojave have long assumed the trackless wastes of the 'Big Mountain' are a no-mans' land, a desolate stretch where no living thing can survive. In Old World Blues, you discover that it is anything but..."

In Old World Blues, the Courier unwittingly becomes a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. They must scour the pre-War research centers of Big Mountain in search of technology that can either turn the tables on their captors or help them defeat an even greater threat.

After being transported to the Big MT research crater, the Courier finds that they're the only hope of saving the "Think Tank" – a strange group of post-human researchers who inhabit the facility. They enlist the aid of the Courier to save them from their own experiments - experiments that have gone horribly out of control. As they explore the Big Mountain crater and its many underground labs, they are confronted by strange mutated animals, battle terrifying new atomic robots and discover a new home base to call their own, complete with some robotic appliances which have individual personalities. Recover all the weapons, armor and tech of the pre-War era and use them to help save all of Science!

You gain a non-addictive subdermal turbo (chem) injector. This perk may be taken twice, with the second rank increasing the effect from 2 to 3 seconds and the uses per day from 5 to 10 (Activated in the Pip-Boy Inventory).

Like all New Vegas add-ons, Old World Blues raises the level cap by 5.[1] The add-on also offers new traits (and gives you the opportunity to change your own traits if you've already chosen them) including one called Logan's Loophole that will allow you to cap your level at 30 and give you additional bonuses regarding chems.

The add-on recommends that players reach level 15 before going to the Big MT.

Equipment will not be stripped from the player at the beginning of this add-on, and it features an open-world setting. There is no limit to the amount of equipment you can take in to the add-on, as well.[2]

Like all Fallout: New Vegas add-ons, companions cannot accompany the Courier to the new land. However, there is one temporary companion in the add-on, a cyberdog named Roxie who has her own ending if you create her.

In addition to providing free basic healing services (restore HP, repair limb damage, and remove radiation and drug dependency), the auto-doc in The Sink allows the player to alter their looks, hairstyle, and, for one time only, their traits.

Christine Royce and Father Elijah from Dead Money are also involved in Old World Blues, although they do not appear in the add-on. There are holotapes of her speaking, along with her weapon and armor. Father Elijah's weapons can also be found, along with notes made by him while in the Big MT.

The Big Empty was a location that was scrapped from Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 (Van Buren).

At some point, Chris Avellone set his location on his Twitter profile to Big MT, Mojave, placing the Big Empty as a location within the Mojave Wasteland and thus teasing its possible appearance in a future Fallout: New Vegas add-on. Since then, Avellone has also changed his Twitter avatar.

J.E. Sawyer has suggested that Old World Blues was the most humorous of the New Vegas add-ons.[3]

This add-on is an obvious homage to the B-movie science fiction movies of the 1950s. There are many references to these types of movies throughout the add-on.

Old World Blues was nominated for the Best DLC Award at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.

PCPlayStation 3Xbox 360 Similar to a bug in Honest Hearts, while playing through the main quest, the tick marks of undiscovered locations can disappear from the compass. However, it's still possible to discover them afterward.

PCPlayStation 3Xbox 360 With Old World Blues installed the amount of 5mm rounds found in containers and other sources of loot is reduced dramatically, to roughly 30% of what is normally found. This change only affects containers found in the Mojave Wasteland, and not those located in the Big MT.

PlayStation 3Xbox 360 When returning to the Mojave, you may find your ratings with factions having diminished.

PlayStation 3 Entering the Big Empty then saving your game, waiting, or entering doors may cause the game to freeze. A way to work around this is to never save, or wait in Big MT itself while indoors. To prevent freezing while in the Sink, enter Big MT from the Think Tank entrance.

PCXbox 360 If you bought all three add-ons, your max level still might be 40. On Xbox 360, you can get rid of it by going the Dashboard and reloading the game.

PC After completing Old World Blues, you may find yourself attacked on sight by the Brotherhood of Steel upon re-entering the bunker, or by the caretaker of the Brotherhood of Steel safe house, even though your standing with them is unchanged.

Xbox 360 When returning to the Mojave, you may not be able to talk to Victor or anyone on the Strip. This prevents you from using the Lucky 38 as a base. A way around it is to kill Victor and the rest of the Securitrons.

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